V10 prides itself on being an affordable homes developer – creating homes for those on low to middle incomes – thus changing life chances.
Pledges
One of V10’s three sustainability pledges is to ‘increase the delivery of affordable homes above statutory s106 levels’. This means we actively engage with Registered Providers whose intention is to convert outright sale tenures to various affordable tenures, thus creating ‘additional affordable’ homes.
The Glenvale Park scheme in Wellingborough is currently under construction for Stonewater. Our recent visit showed the immense progress that our contractor partner has made recently with infrastructure and foundations powering ahead – which gives V10 great delight in meeting our pledges quickly.
Affordable Tenures
This will be a 100% affordable scheme with four tenures; social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership and rent to buy. The housing need figures released in March 2023 show that in Wellingborough in the last assessed annual period, the number of households with a housing need fell by only eight or 1.75% to 338. Hopefully this scheme of 148 homes once complete will make a major contribution to accelerating the satisfaction of such need locally.
But what are these tenures and why are they affordable? It can require a complex answer but in simple terms:
- Social Rent: Using a government formula these are usually around 50% of the market rent – referred to as target rent.
- Affordable Rent: Closely linked to Local Housing Allowance levels, these are usually around 80% of market rent.
- Rent to Buy: This is a transitional tenure allowing the occupant to save a deposit (over 5 years typically) and convert from renting to shared ownership. To enable such saving the rent is set at 80% of market rent.
- Shared Ownership: This enables a buyer to become a part homeowner starting with an entry level 10% share. A rent is paid proportional to the remaining equity held by the Housing Association. Over time the homeowner buys more shares and staircases out to full ownership in most cases with zero rent payable.
Real Lives
In the industry sector we sometimes use a lot of acronyms; AR, FH, SOS, SO, OS, PC, LC, LLR, LAR, RTB, BRMA, SR, SH to describe various aspects of development. However, the most important ones are FH, SH and PC. These represent the moment when those households with housing needs are finally met at First Handover, Sectional Handover and Practical Completion – and a sea of smiley faces heralds the beginning of those life chances – the reason V10 exists.
